What a journey it has been. My dad is 78 next month and got diagnosed with tonsil cancer 5 years ago. He has severe Dysphagia from when he had treatment. He had his tonsils removed some teeth removed and a tumour removed. It’s been a rollercoaster 5 years. He has had aspiration pneumonia and sepsis a few years back which was dreadful, they let him out of hospital and as soon as I got him home I knew there was something not right. Lucky I phoned an ambulance and they took him back in to be told the pneumonia has spread to the other lung. He had the flu jab last year and there was a scab that kept growing and falling off we went to the doctors numerous times we finally got referred to a dermatologist to be told it’s skin cancer and had to go back there twice to get it removed. He also broke his elbow last year. He has been through the wars to say the least. The swallowing is a major issue we have seen a speech and language therapist and had a barium swallow done they both have agreed the best option would be a PEG tube. Has anyone had one of these before? What’s the pro’s and cons of this and will this shorten his life expectancy? Sorry for rambling on
Hello sinisshining and welcome to the comminity
You sound a wonderful person to be looking after their dad and I’m sorry he has had such a rough ride. On the other hand he is cancer free which is a blessing.
I will tag chris2012 who is PEG fed after a successful battle with cancer. He is one of our community champions and will be along soon with some words of wisdom.
Meanwhile if you click on his name you can look at his profile which describes his journey.
There are a few others here who rely on their PEGs ( which, by the way are pretty standard temporary measures for folk undergoing radiotherapy) and I’m sure they will be along to chip in.
Try not to worry too much. The doctors are used to dealing with things like this and I’m sure they will make it as easy as they can.
There is absolutely no reason that a stomach tube wound shorten your dad’s life
Good luck
Dani
Base of tongue cancer. T2N0M0 6 weeks Radiotherapy finished January 2019
Good evening sunisshining, great user name, i have had a PEG feeding tube in since 2009 as i cannot swallow whole food so rely on liquid food supplements being syringed into my stomach, you can also have a pump at home that will do the same as sometimes feeding with the syringe can be difficult as it needs quite a bit of pressure to push the plunger so it depends how fit /strong your dad is or if he has a carer. I have never had any serious problems with my PEG or stoma site where the tube goes through. It needs to be kept clean but please do not overdo it as like any sensitive area it can get sore so i just clean the area and tube once a day with a baby wipe and then leave it for the rest of the day. The PEG should be rotated once a week to make sure it does not get stuck to the stomach lining, this should all be explained by his dietitian. The good thing about a PEG is that it is not on show like an NG tube that goes down through the nose, any of his meds can also go through the tube so make sure any meds are in liquid form if possible. Lastly, the PEG will certainly not shorten his life, it has kept me going for 11 years and hopefully many more.
It might be a bit tender or uncomfortable for a few days, mine was ok and still is. Sorry to hear your dad has been through a lot lets hope the PEG does the job and he can lead a normal life. Please re-post if you require anymore help, wishing you and your dad all the very best, take care, stay safe.
Chris x
Its sometimes not easy but its worth it !
